constructing Year 7A and 9's money boxes

The pupils showed an interest in using the material of wood to make their own box. The pupils listened to all safety instructions with how to use the variety of tools such as pointing the saw downwards as they cut the pieces of wood. The pupils understood that they needed to wear goggles and a apron when using the tools and at a what time for example; one pupil said "you wear the goggles when you are using the saw as it stops the dust from getting in your eyes". The pupils sat around in a group as they watched demonstrations of what equipment they would be using for the creation of their box and how they were going to achieve the final result. 

• The pupils worked individually or in pairs as they began to understand that the numbers on the ruler would match with the dimensions to how long the pieces of wood would need be and the length of width for the sides to complete the structure of the box. As a group the pupils identified, with staff support, the measurements of "20" cm long and "6" cm wide. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The pupils then had a go at measuring the lengths out by using a pencil and ruler and continued to look at a diagram of what sizes the sides of the boxes will be, this was drawn on a whiteboard. 
• The pupils identified that they would need "four sides" for their box as one pupil labelled each one with the words "bottom, side, other side and top". 
• After the pupils each took it in turns, or worked together, to use a saw to cut along or around the lines, with staff support, for each side. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Near the end of the lesson the teacher gathered the pupils around a cutting machine and explained that it was used for cutting smaller pieces of wood whilst showing them how to use the machine such as moving the wood slowly while it is cutting because if you do it quickly then the line for their sides would be jaggered and not straight. One of the pupils said "you have to put your foot on the red button for the machine to start and stop". As we were travelling back to school from RSS, I asked all pupils if they had enjoyed the lesson and what they liked the most. One pupil said "I liked using the saw but it was really hard to cut the wood", when another pupil said "I didn't like the saw it took ages to cut and afterwards my arm really hurt and was tired".